The invention relates to a process for the simultaneous production of aldehydes and diols from the respective olefines and hydrogen peroxide.
Aldehydes are important intermediate compounds in the synthesis of medicines or azo dyestuffs. Certain aldehydes, e.g. glutardialdehyde, are used as tanning agents.
Diols are important starting materials for the production of polyurethanes.
German Pat. No. 863,432 concerns the production of 1,2-diols from certain olefines and hydrogen peroxide in a direct reaction.
It is also known how to produce aldehydes by reacting 1,2-diols with oxidising agents, such as periodic acid (L. Malaprade, Bull.Soc. Chim. France (4) 43, 683 (1928)) or lead tetraacetate (R. Criegee, Ber.d.dtsch.chem Ges. 64, 264 (1931)). However, it is only in exceptional cases that the direct reaction of olefines with such oxidising agents leads to satisfactory results. An additional factor is that these oxidising agents do not participate in the reaction as catalysts, but are consumed during the reaction. This means that the conversion products of the oxidising agents which have been introduced have to be isolated after the reaction has ended and converted into the corresponding starting compounds before they are used again.